Togainu no Chi: Insanity
by EternalDark-Dollmaker
Summary: Nyumetsu Kasai is the first female participant in Igra. However, she didn't go there out of sane choice. But with that behind her, she takes on her new life... and meets Shiki while she's at it. Strange things will happen... can she survive? ShikixOC
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

"Young master!" a guard burst into Ketsueki's room, where the young neurologist-in-training was examining a brain scan for a test.  
"Yes?" Ketsueki stood, worried. He had heard a commotion, but he had dismissed it as the clumsy maid making a mistake again.  
"It's your sister... Bara..."  
Ketsueki felt dread in his stomach. "I'm coming."  
Ketsueki ran, following the guard up to the roof of the mansion.  
And there she was.  
Bara was standing on the edge of the roof. Her long hair in shocking disarray, and her right hand gripping a bloodstained knife.  
The left sleeve of her shirt had been ripped off, and blood ran down her arm in such a copious amount that Ketsueki could barely make out the kanjis his younger sister had carved into her arm, so deeply that scarring was guaranteed.  
狂気.  
Insanity.  
But that didn't matter at the moment.  
"Bara!" Ketsueki started forward, planning to get his sister away from the edge.  
However, the moment he moved, Bara's legs bent and she launched herself into the air, over the edge of the building, into the river below that had swollen due to the rainy season.  
"BARA!" Ketsueki yelled, looking over the edge.  
But there was no trace. Bara was gone.

Chapter 1

Kasai let out a gasp of pain as she was slammed into the wall, not bothering to try to support herself as she slid down. The sickening sound of her cracking bones echoed through the empty room.  
Well, almost empty. Other than a few twisted metal bars and Kasai herself, there was a tall man with a katana, who advanced on her.  
The man grabbed her by her neck, lifted her up and shoved her against the wall. His red eyes never left her face.  
"If you beg for your life," he said, voice soft. "I might change my mind about killing you."  
First Kasai was silent. But after a few moments quiet, mirthless laughter drifted from her. It hurt her chest, due to her broken ribs, but she stopped only to speak.  
"Why would I beg for what I don't want?" she whispered weakly.  
"What do you mean by that?" the man asked, voice still soft, but still obviously agitated by her lack of fear or arrogance.  
"Exactly what it sounds like. If you kill me, I won't be able to thank you enough. Or at all."  
The man didn't make any sound, just tightened his grip around her throat to show his frustration. Kasai didn't struggle.  
And, finally, the man dropped her, leaving her to sink back down to the floor, gasping for breath.  
"You are quite intriguing," he said, looking down at her form, crumpled on the floor. "Instead of begging for your life, or adamantly refusing to, you pretty much ask me to end it? You are very different from most of the people I have met in my life."  
"Is that so?" Kasai whispered hoarsely. "If you're going to kill me, can you please do it soon? I think I'm going to die soon anyway from these wounds you gave me... but I'd prefer it to be quicker and less painful."  
A short silence from the man, and then laughter.  
"Yes, you are very interesting!" he said when he quieted his sudden outburst. "I don't think I'm going to kill you, though. Not yet, anyway. You really are very... amusing. Too amusing to end quite yet. In fact..." he knelt next to her, using a finger to lift her chin, causing her face to look up at him. "I think I'm going to do something about your wounds. It would be a shame if you died before I could get some more amusement out of you, wouldn't it?"  
"Do whatever it is you want to quickly," Kasai slid her eyes away from the man. "I'm pretty sure I don't like you very much."  
The man laughed again. "Speaking to the one who almost killed you like that? I can't tell whether you're brave, or just extremely stupid."  
Kasai didn't make another comment, just kept staring off into a corner.  
Or, at least, she did until the man started unbuttoning her shirt.  
"Hey!" she jerked into a sitting position, gasping in pain but not letting herself go back down, smacking his hands away as her own free hand held her shirt closed.  
"Relax, I just need to take care of the wounds on your waist and chest."  
"I don't trust you."  
"Good. You shouldn't."  
Kasai glowered at him for a short moment before coughing up blood.  
"Are you going to let me treat your wounds now?"  
Kasai sighed and dropped her hands. "Whatever. Like I could stop you if you really wanted to."  
"Smart girl." The man unbuttoned the rest of her shirt, completely revealing the blood and wounds that were hidden by the black fabric.  
"Hm," the man carefully traced his fingers along the wounds, causing electric shots of pain. "These are worse than they should have been. I can guess why, though. You have such soft skin. In any other situation, this would actually be pretty exciting."  
"You pervert. Get this done quickly. Your fingers are cold."  
"Quite imperial for an injured girl." The man took out a roll of bandages and dressed her wounds. "This is about the extent of my medical knowledge." He stood. "If you want any other treatment, you'll have to do it on your own. And I suggest you get out of here soon. A lot of gangsters like to take walks here looking for weaklings."  
"Tch," Kasai bared her teeth. "I don't care. Who are you, anyway? If a man sees me with my shirt unbuttoned like that, I prefer to know his name."  
"Understandable," the man shrugged. "Most call me Shiki. You can call me that, too."  
"I don't care if they call you Goldy Princess, what's you're real name?"  
The man, Shiki, just chuckled and disappeared before Kasai could say anything more.  
Kasai shook her head in exasperation, immediately regretting it at pain shot through her skull. She slowly forced herself to stand, leaning on the wall.  
"I'm going to rip that jerk's throat out some day," she muttered to herself. She spat out blood and then limped her way to where she could trade some tags.  
As usual, when she entered the building, everything went silent.  
Eyes followed her as she went to the trading counter and slapped down a few tags.  
"I need three rolls of bandages, two common antidotes, two packs of alcohol swabs, four water bottles, five packs of solids and one sharpening stone, pronto!" she said, swinging around so she was leaning on the counter.  
"Y-yes ma'am!" the man at the counter fumbled around, gathering what she asked for.  
"Thanks," she muttered, shoving the items into her bag before marching out.  
"What happened to Nyumetsu?" she heard one of the Igra participants mutter.  
"I don't know. I've never seen her injured before..." another whispered.  
"It was probably Shiki! If anyone could injure her, he could, and if anyone could survive one of his attacks, it's her."  
She silenced them with a glare.  
Kasai approached the building where she currently lived in Igra, slamming the door open and going down to the basement, which apparently used to be a bar.  
She plopped down on the couch that she used for a bed. Then one hand trailed up to push the left shoulder of her shirt down and trace the kanjis she had carved there... how many years ago? She didn't count. Why did she do it, anyway? Oh, right... temporary insanity...

Kasai's eyes flew open, sharp ember gazing into the almost pitch black. She gripped her knife, pulling her shirt to cover her shoulder again.  
She sat up, eyes flicking back and forth, looking for what woke her up.  
She didn't hear or see anything.  
_I'm just being skittish,_ she thought. _It's pathetic. Why do I have to be such an idiot?_  
She lay back down, closing her eyes.  
_If I could just change, even a little..._


	2. Chapter 2

Ketsueki sighed and put down his work to look out the window. It had been five years since his sister went insane and disappeared.  
So much had happened since then, and Ketsueki had stopped wondering if Bara was even still alive. He was sure she was dead by now.  
"Brother?" Ketsueki turned to see his other sister, Musume. "Kagami's here."  
Ketsueki nodded and stood, glancing at something before leaving the room.  
Musume looked down at what had caught her brother's attention, even if only for a moment.  
A family portrait from long ago, the three siblings posed and smiling with their parents.  
Musume reached forward to pick up the picture, eyes sad.  
"I miss you, Sister," she said softly, before setting down the frame and walking out, preparing to prune the roses that Bara had been named after.

"Hey!" Kasai grabbed the shoulder of the first Igra participant she found. A man who looked terrified when he sa her face. "You look well informed. Tell me everything you know about the man called Shiki."  
"Uh..." the man stammered.  
"Idiot," Kasai growled. She grabbed the front of his shirt and shoved him against a wall. "Speak already! I'm in a bad mood today and you do NOT want to get in my bad books!"  
"Okay, okay!" the man gasped. "Shiki is a very mysterious man, who no one knows very much about! He doesn't carry or collect tags, so no one thinks he's really interested in Igra. No one has survived his attacks before... you're the first! But it's known that he carries a katana and kills his victims quickly most of the time. Looks like he played around with you for a while, though."  
"Is that really all you know?"  
"Yes! I swear it is! I also swear that if I find anything more, I'll commute the information to you before anyone else!"  
"Very good," Kasai dropped him. "You can leave now."  
The man stumbled to his feet and ran off.  
_Mysterious, huh?_ Kasai stared at the wall, lost in thought. _What an overstatement. He's as mysterious as I am cheerful. Whatever. I don't think I'll run into him any time soon, anyway._  
She sighed and turned to walk off. Then froze.  
"Those who delve into other's business are those who die early," Shiki said.  
"And those who cross me are those who die slowly and painfully," Kasai retorted. "And that includes you."  
"You're doing something that you'll regret."  
"Like you care," Kasai glared, subconsciously baring her teeth. "What do you want?"  
"I want you to mind your own business."  
"Oh, trust me, I'd be all too happy to if everyone would just leave me alone."  
They stood there for a few seconds, glaring.  
Kasai had to look away first. She couldn't help it.  
_Those eyes.._. she thought irritably. _Why did they have that effect on me?_  
She glanced back. Shiki was still there.  
"You know," she said. "I would kill you, but that would be a waste of my time. I'm leaving."  
She turned and left, seething inside.  
_Why am I so weak?_ she thought. _I can't even handle a useless idiot!_  
She was muttering to herself the entire time as she headed back to her residence.  
She slammed the door behind her.  
"I am going to kill him someday," she muttered to herself. "I will rip him to shreds and bath the world in his blood!"  
She stopped in her tracks. Those words... they were violent and insane, even for her.  
She fell back against a wall, rubbing her head.  
"What is going on with me..." she whispered. "Someone please help, someone just let me... oh gosh, I'm going insane again..."  
She lifted a hand to her chest, feeling the deep scars through the thin material of her shirt.  
"It's not like I haven't tried dying before..."  
Kasai doubled over, arms pressing against her waist as she started sobbing.  
She slid down and curled up, resting her head between her shoulders.

Kasai woke up with a stiff back, sore legs and a migraine.  
She cussed, standing slowly and rubbing her back. Then the events of last night came back to her, putting her in an even worse mood.  
"Curse this forsaken city," she muttered. "Curse it to the deepest pits of Hell, and just let disappear from this world, all memories and history..."  
She mentally slapped herself for slipping back into being depressed. She was not going to do that again. No more clinic depression. No more suicide attempts.  
But she needed to get her emotions out somehow...  
_I should be fine, just as long as I don't have to deal with any idiots today..._  
She picked up her knife and slid it under her jacket.

"Hey," a man's voice caused Kasai to whirl around and pull out her knife.  
"Calm down, I'm not going to hurt you," the guy raised his hands. "I hear you bullied someone into information on Shiki."  
"Yeah, so?" Kasai glared.  
"Well, just to get a little closer to being safe from you, I'll share a little tidbit of information. Though he kills so many people, he never collects tags."  
"Bullcrap."  
"I'm telling the truth."  
"Well, I won't belive that until I actually see a corpse with all of it's tags," Kasai snapped before starting to turn, only to be stopped by the man's voice.  
"That can be arranged. A bunch of Shiki's kills were found recently."  
Kasai thought for a moment. "Take me there."  
The man nodded and turned, gesturing for her to follow before walking. Kasai, wondering if it was a good idea, followed without releasing her knife.  
Ten minutes later, they reached the site.  
"Oh..." Kasai's voice sounded small, even to her. She doubled over, pressing a hand to her mouth and closing her eyes against the large amounts of blood. "This... this is impossible," she said, voice muffled. "N-no man can do this alone!"  
"Not used to blood, eh? Well, as rumor has it, Shiki is almost always alone, so I don't see how anyone could have helped him."  
Kasai just shook her head, squeezing her eyes tighter.  
"Oh gosh... o-oh dear gosh..."  
Straightening up but keeping her eyes closed, Kasai turned to leave.  
"I thought you wanted to see the tags?" the man asked.  
"No. I don't want to see... that any closer," Kasai whispered. "Thanks for... at least trying."  
"No problem. But consider this a warning: Don't get on Shiki's bad side. Or you'll end up like these guys. And you're a long mile to pretty for that to be anything other than a waste."  
"Shut up... I'm leaving."  
With that, she slowly walked off, eventually opening her eyes as she kept seeing the bloodied corpses.  
"S-so that's the strength of Shiki," she whispered to herself. "I can't believe it..."  
_He was just playing with me when we fought... so what am I going to do if I get into a duel with him again? There's no way I can win..._


End file.
